The latest measure irked one of the victims of the ban.
“Next thing you know, they will ban doctors from treating women and will only let women treat women,’’ said Barakat al-Ghoul, 44, a hair stylist. “Tomorrow, they will ban everything.’’
Ghoul, who has cut women’s hair for 26 years, said a ban would be devastating. He said he has no other way of making a living.
Islamic tradition forbids women from showing their hair to men who are not their husbands or blood relatives. Until now, however, exceptions were made for the eight known male hair stylists in women’s salons in Gaza City.
Mohammed Fares, a salon owner who employs only women, said the first salons for women sprang up in Gaza in the 1950s.
Some of the male stylists have a devoted following, and their customers accept long waiting periods to get appointments.
Fares said Hamas’s new ruling takes away one of the last remnants of a more liberal lifestyle in Gaza that flourished decades ago, when the territory had cinemas and bars. All cinemas and bars were closed years ago.
Since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, small ultraradical Islamic groups have sprung up. Known as Jihadi Salafis, they advocate holy war and a strict, fundamentalist form of Islam, dismissing Hamas as too pragmatic.
They are suspected in dozens of bombings of Internet cafes, music stores, and other alleged purveyors of vice.
Fares said a small pipe bomb was set off recently outside a male hair stylist’s shop, as a warning for him to stop working.
The Hamas police announced the ban on male hair stylists yesterday on their website, citing the Interior Ministry. The statement said those violating the ban would face legal consequences but did not elaborate.
